I was idle, and quarter-day came on,
And I had not the rent in store,
I fear'd St. Isidro's anger,

But I dreaded my

landlord more.

So on a dark night I took my flight
And stole like a thief away;

It happen'd that by St. Andrew's Church
The road I had chosen lay.

As I past the Church door, I thought how I swore

Upon St. Isidro's day;

That the Saint was so near increased

And faster I hasten'd away.

So all night long I hurried on,
Pacing full many a mile,
And knew not his avenging hand
Was on me all the while.

Weary I was, yet safe, I thought;
But when it was day-light
I had I found been running round
And round the Church all night.

my fear,

I shook like a palsy, and fell on my knees,
And for pardon devoutly I pray'd;

When my master came up, "What, Christoval,
You are here betimes!" he said.

"I have been idle, good Master,” said I,
"Good Master, and I have done wrong;
And I have been running round the Church
In penance all night long."

"If thou hast been idle," Henrique replied,
"Henceforth thy fault amend!

I will not oppress thee, Christoval,
And the Saint may thy labour befriend."

Homeward I went a penitent,

And from that day I idled no more;

St. Isidro bless'd my industry,

As he punish'd my sloth before.

"When my debtor was poor," old Christoval said, "I have never exacted my due;

But remembering my master was good to me,
I copied his goodness too.

"When my neighbour hath sinn'd," old Christoval said,

"I judged not too hardly his sin,

But thought of the night by St. Andrew's Church, And consider'd what I might have been."

Westbury, 1798.

CORNELIUS AGRIPPA;

A BALLAD,

OF A YOUNG MAN THAT WOULD READ UNLAWFUL BOOKS, AND HOW HE WAS PUNISHED.

VERY PITHY AND PROFITABLE.

CORNELIUS Agrippa went out one day,
His Study he lock'd ere he went away,
And he gave the key of the door to his wife,
And charged her to keep it lock'd on her life.

"And if any one ask my Study to see,
I charge you to trust them not with the key;
Whoever may beg, and entreat, and implore,
On your life let nobody enter that door."

There lived a young man in the house, who in vain
Access to that Study had sought to obtain;
And he begg'd and pray'd the books to see,
Till the foolish woman gave him the key.

On the Study-table a book there lay,

Which Agrippa himself had been reading that day; The letters were written with blood therein,

And the leaves were made of dead men's skin;

And these horrible leaves of magic between
Were the ugliest pictures that ever were seen,
The likeness of things so foul to behold,
That what they were is not fit to be told.

The young man, he began to read

He knew not what, but he would proceed,
When there was heard a sound at the door
Which as he read on grew more and more.

And more and more the knocking grew,
The young man knew not what to do ;
But trembling in fear he sat within,

Till the door was broke, and the Devil came in.

Two hideous horns on his head he had got,

Like iron heated nine times red-hot;

The breath of his nostrils was brimstone blue,

And his tail like a fiery serpent grew.

"What wouldst thou with me?" the Wicked One cried, But not a word the young man replied;

Every hair on his head was standing upright,
And his limbs like a palsy shook with affright.

"What wouldst thou with me?" cried the Author of ill, But the wretched young man was silent still;

Not a word had his lips the power to say,

And his marrow seem'd to be melting away.

"What wouldst thou with me?" the third time he cries, And a flash of lightning came from his eyes, And he lifted his griffin claw in the air,

And the young man had not strength for a prayer.

His eyes red fire and fury dart

As out he tore the young man's heart;
He grinn'd a horrible grin at his prey,
And in a clap of thunder vanish'd away.

THE MORAL.

Henceforth let all young men take heed
How in a Conjuror's books they read.

Westbury, 1798.